Strauss-Kahn faces French accuser

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29 September 2011 Last updated at 09:45 GMT The BBC's Christian Fraser: "Tristane Banon said she wanted to look into the eyes of Dominique Strauss-Kahn"

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the French writer who accuses him of attempted rape have confronted each other as part of a police inquiry.

Police are investigating Tristane Banon's complaint before prosecutors decide whether to press charges.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is said to admit making "an advance" on Ms Banon, but denies any violence, and is suing for slander.

She made the allegations in June, when Mr Strauss-Kahn was accused of rape in New York; that case was later dropped.

The confrontation took place at a Paris police station without lawyers present, but with police officers in the room.

Police confrontations are held when two people in a case give different versions of events.

Mr Strauss-Kahn left the police station a couple of hours after arriving without making any comments.

Continue reading the main story Christian Fraser BBC News, Paris

After the confrontation, it will be up to the court to decide which way to take it. They can either decide there is no case to answer. They could decide that this was a case of less serious sexual abuse, but in that case, eight years on, under the statute of limitation, the case would be put to one side.

Or they could decide that on the evidence of the investigation that has been going on since July, there needs to be further investigation and an investigating judge would been appointed.

But you can imagine for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is trying to relaunch is political career, he is very keen for this to be put to one side and he will be hoping that the police believes his side of the story.

Both parties have been interviewed by police over the alleged incident.

Ms Banon, 32, has said she is keen to confront her alleged attacker.

"I want him in front of me so he can look into my eyes and say to my face that I imagined it."

Ms Banon alleges she had to fight off Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, "with kicks and punches" when he tried to rip off her clothes during an interview at Paris flat in 2003.

Ms Banon first made the allegations in a TV chat show in 2007, when Mr Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped out.

The former International Monetary Fund director, who was once tipped as a future French president, recently returned to France.

He also still faces a civil suit by his alleged victim in New York, Nafissatou Diallo.

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Strauss-Kahn set for TV interview

Prosecutors said Nafissatou Diallo's lack of credibility meant the charges had to be dropped

  Dominique Strauss-Kahn was questioned by police in Paris last week over a Frenchwoman's complaint Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to give his first television interview since charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid in New York were dropped.The former International Monetary Fund chief will appear on France's TF1 channel on Sunday evening.
He will be questioned by Claire Chazal, a friend of his wife Anne Sinclair.
The laywers for the maid said Mr Strauss-Kahn should face "pointed questions" about the incident otherwise it would be a "publicity stunt".
Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, resigned as IMF chief in May after his arrest for the alleged attempted rape of Nafissatou Diallo, 32, at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan.
The charges were dropped in August when prosecutors said the accuser's lack of credibility meant the case could not continue.
She is bringing a civil suit against him.
Opinion poll
The interview will take place during the 20:00 (18:00 GMT) news.
Analysts say Ms Chazal, an ex-colleague of Ms Sinclair, is not known for aggressive questioning and Mr Strauss-Kahn will be well prepared.
The maid's lawyers, Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor, said Mr Strauss-Kahn should "answer pointed questions about his conduct on 14 May" and if he did not do so the "interview will simply be a public relations stunt".
They said in a statement: "If Mr Strauss-Kahn thinks that people in France will really believe that he was able to convince Ms Diallo, who had never met him before and did not know that he was in the room, to engage in sexual acts with him within a matter of minutes, then he should describe how that happened.
"We suspect that he will not do so because any story that he describes will not be plausible."
A poll by the Ifop institute found that 53% of those surveyed hoped Mr Strauss-Kahn would use the interview to announce his retirement from politics, with 22% hoping he would announce his candidature for next year's presidential election.
Before his arrest, he had been expected to be a strong contender to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In addition to the New York case, Mr Strauss-Kahn faces an allegation by French author, Tristane Banon, that he tried to rape her in 2003.
He denies the allegation and is suing for defamation.
He was interviewed by French police last week.
An official close to the inquiry told Agence France-Presse that Mr Strauss-Kahn had denied attempted rape and assault but "conceded that he had made advances to her, without being very precise about the nature of these advances".

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